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Selected Verse: Isaiah 5:6 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Isa 5:6	King James	And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
I will . . . command--The parable is partly dropped and Jehovah, as in Isa 5:7, is implied to be the Owner: for He alone, not an ordinary husbandman (Mat 21:43; Luk 17:22), could give such a "command." no rain--antitypically, the heaven-sent teachings of the prophets (Amo 8:11). Not accomplished in the Babylonish captivity; for Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, and Zechariah prophesied during or after it. But in gospel times.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

I will . . . command--The parable is partly dropped and Jehovah, as in Isa 5:7, is implied to be the Owner: for He alone, not an ordinary husbandman (Mat 21:43; Luk 17:22), could give such a "command."

no rain--antitypically, the heaven-sent teachings of the prophets (Amo 8:11). Not accomplished in the Babylonish captivity; for Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, and Zechariah prophesied during or after it. But in gospel times.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
I will lay it waste ... - The description here is continued from Isa 5:5. The image is carried out, and means that the Jews should be left utterly without protection. I will also command the clouds ... - It is evident here, that the parable or figure is partially dropped. A farmer could not command the clouds. It is God alone who could do that; and the figure of the vineyard is dropped, and God is introduced speaking as a sovereign. The meaning is, that he would withhold his divine influences, and would abandon them to desolation. The sense of the whole verse is plain. God would leave the Jews without protection; he would remove the guards, the helps, the influences, with which he had favored them, and leave them to their own course, as a vineyard that was unpruned, uncultivated, unwatered. The Chaldee has well expressed the sense of the passage: 'I will take away the house of my sanctuary (the temple), and they shall be trodden down. I will regard them as guilty, and there shall be no support or defense for them; they shall be abandoned, and shall become wanderers. I will command the prophets, that they shall not prophesy over them.' The lesson taught here is, that when a people become ungrateful, and rebellious, God will withdraw from them, and leave them to desolation; compare Rev 2:3.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

I will lay it waste ... - The description here is continued from Isa 5:5. The image is carried out, and means that the Jews should be left utterly without protection.

I will also command the clouds ... - It is evident here, that the parable or figure is partially dropped. A farmer could not command the clouds. It is God alone who could do that; and the figure of the vineyard is dropped, and God is introduced speaking as a sovereign. The meaning is, that he would withhold his divine influences, and would abandon them to desolation. The sense of the whole verse is plain. God would leave the Jews without protection; he would remove the guards, the helps, the influences, with which he had favored them, and leave them to their own course, as a vineyard that was unpruned, uncultivated, unwatered. The Chaldee has well expressed the sense of the passage: 'I will take away the house of my sanctuary (the temple), and they shall be trodden down. I will regard them as guilty, and there shall be no support or defense for them; they shall be abandoned, and shall become wanderers. I will command the prophets, that they shall not prophesy over them.' The lesson taught here is, that when a people become ungrateful, and rebellious, God will withdraw from them, and leave them to desolation; compare Rev 2:3.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
This puts an end to the unthankful vineyard, and indeed a hopeless one."And I will put an end to it: it shall not be pruned nor digged, and it shall break out in thorns and thistles; and I will command the clouds to rain no rain over it." "Put an end:" bâthâh (= battâh : Ges. 67, Anm. 11) signifies, according to the primary meaning of bâthath (בּוּת, בּהת, see at Isa 1:29), viz., abscindere, either abscissum = locus abscissus or praeruptus (Isa 7:19), or abscissio = deletio. The latter is the meaning here, where shı̄th bâthâh is a refined expression for the more usual כלה עשׂה, both being construed with the accusative of the thing which is brought to an end. Further pruning and hoeing would do it no good, but only lead to further disappointment: it was the will of the Lord, therefore, that the deceitful vineyard should shoot up in thorns and thistles (âlâh is applied to the soil, as in Isa 34:13 and Pro 24:31; shâimr vâshaith, thorns and thistles, are in the accusative, according to Ges. 138, 1, Anm. 2; and both the words themselves, and also their combination, are exclusively and peculiarly Isaiah's). (Note: Cassel associates shâmir as the name of a plant (saxifraga) with σμὐρις, and shaith with sentis, ἄκανθα; but the name shâmir is not at all applicable to those small delicate plants, which are called saxifraga (stone-breakers) on account of their growing out of clefts in the rock, and so appearing to have split the rock itself. Both shâmir vâshaith and kōts v'dardar, in Gen 3:18, seem rather to point to certain kinds of rhamnus, together with different kinds of thistles. The more arid and waste the ground is, the more does it abound, where not altogether without vegetation, in thorny, prickly, stunted productions.) In order that it might remain a wilderness, the clouds would also receive commandment from the Lord not to rain upon it. There can be no longer any doubt who the Lord of the vineyard is. He is Lord of the clouds, and therefore the Lord of heaven and earth. It is He who is the prophet's beloved and dearest one. The song which opened in so minstrel-like and harmless a tone, has now become painfully severe and terribly repulsive. The husk of the parable, which has already been broken through, now falls completely off (cf., Mat 22:13; Mat 25:30). What it sets forth in symbol is really true. This truth the prophet establishes by an open declaration.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

This puts an end to the unthankful vineyard, and indeed a hopeless one."And I will put an end to it: it shall not be pruned nor digged, and it shall break out in thorns and thistles; and I will command the clouds to rain no rain over it." "Put an end:" bâthâh (= battâh : Ges. 67, Anm. 11) signifies, according to the primary meaning of bâthath (בּוּת, בּהת, see at Isa 1:29), viz., abscindere, either abscissum = locus abscissus or praeruptus (Isa 7:19), or abscissio = deletio. The latter is the meaning here, where shı̄th bâthâh is a refined expression for the more usual כלה עשׂה, both being construed with the accusative of the thing which is brought to an end. Further pruning and hoeing would do it no good, but only lead to further disappointment: it was the will of the Lord, therefore, that the deceitful vineyard should shoot up in thorns and thistles (âlâh is applied to the soil, as in Isa 34:13 and Pro 24:31; shâimr vâshaith, thorns and thistles, are in the accusative, according to Ges. 138, 1, Anm. 2; and both the words themselves, and also their combination, are exclusively and peculiarly Isaiah's).

(Note: Cassel associates shâmir as the name of a plant (saxifraga) with σμὐρις, and shaith with sentis, ἄκανθα; but the name shâmir is not at all applicable to those small delicate plants, which are called saxifraga (stone-breakers) on account of their growing out of clefts in the rock, and so appearing to have split the rock itself. Both shâmir vâshaith and kōts v'dardar, in Gen 3:18, seem rather to point to certain kinds of rhamnus, together with different kinds of thistles. The more arid and waste the ground is, the more does it abound, where not altogether without vegetation, in thorny, prickly, stunted productions.)

In order that it might remain a wilderness, the clouds would also receive commandment from the Lord not to rain upon it. There can be no longer any doubt who the Lord of the vineyard is. He is Lord of the clouds, and therefore the Lord of heaven and earth. It is He who is the prophet's beloved and dearest one. The song which opened in so minstrel-like and harmless a tone, has now become painfully severe and terribly repulsive. The husk of the parable, which has already been broken through, now falls completely off (cf., Mat 22:13; Mat 25:30). What it sets forth in symbol is really true. This truth the prophet establishes by an open declaration.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Nor digged - Vine - dressers use to dig up and open the earth about the roots of the vines. The meaning is, I will remove my ministers, who used great care and diligence to make you fruitful. Thorns - I will give you up to your own lusts. No rain - I will deprive you of all my blessings.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]

Nor digged - Vine - dressers use to dig up and open the earth about the roots of the vines. The meaning is, I will remove my ministers, who used great care and diligence to make you fruitful. Thorns - I will give you up to your own lusts. No rain - I will deprive you of all my blessings.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
There shall come up briers and thorns "The thorn shall spring up in it" - One MS. has בשמיר beshamir. The true reading seems to be בו שמור bo shamir, which is confirmed by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

There shall come up briers and thorns "The thorn shall spring up in it" - One MS. has בשמיר beshamir. The true reading seems to be בו שמור bo shamir, which is confirmed by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

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